Rivals250 two-way lineman Donovan Smith (6-5, 270) of Owings Mills (Md.) recently trimmed his list down to more manageable 12 schools, and Michigan State made the cut. He is also considering offers from Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, North Carolina, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, UCLA, Virginia and Virginia Tech.

SpartanMag.com caught up Smith, whom Rivals.com rates a four-star offensive tackle and the No. 10 prospect at that position (No. 196 prospect overall), and he talked about why the Spartans made his initial cut.

"I put them in there because they offered me for defense," said Smith, whose primary recruiter is MSU defensive line coach Ted Gill. "Other schools gave me the choice of defense or offense, like Penn State and Pitt and Rutgers. But Michigan State gave me an offer straight for defense, so that meant a lot to me, because they have faith in me to play on the defensive side of the ball instead of offense, and everybody else offered for offense."

When asked if he prefers to play offense or defense, Smith said, "At the beginning I wanted to be more of an offensive lineman, but now I've looked into more, and once you get to college they'll switch you where you fit best. So it really doesn't matter to me whether it's defense or offense. I have no preference."

Smith also indicated that he's played both ways his whole career, and he says his skills on both sides of the ball are pretty even. However, the Spartans think he fits them best on defense.